The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column on Thursday 30 December 2004

There was an editing error in this obituary. Contrary to what the published version said, Vijay Hazare did not lead India in the 1947-48 tour of Australia.

On India's 1947-48 cricket tour of Australia, Vijay Hazare, who has died aged 89, hit 116 and 145 against the deadly duo of Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall. He was the only batsman, after Denis Compton, to score a century in each innings of a Test against them. Don Bradman, who lead the Australians, said that Hazare, the Indian captain, had the right to be classed as a great player, although his lack of aggression was a weakness.

Hazare was without elegance and style and was accused of batting slowly, even selfishly; yet he scored a century before lunch three times in first-class cricket. He was never a connoisseur's delight. But so brittle was India's batting at the time that he was invariably its anchor. Sound technique and temperament enabled him to face the best fast bowlers and spinners with ease and felicity. His coverdrive, hook and squarecut were attractive. Opponents feared his confidence, concentration, determination and hunger for runs. He was patience personified, unruffled by intimidation or sledging and the only Indian batsman who could play as well on matting as on turf.

He was born in Sangli, a princely state in Maharashtra, one of eight children of a schoolteacher. He preferred cricket and football to books. He began as a medium-pacer who could also bowl leg-spin and his first employer, Maharaja Vikram Singh of Dewas, imported a legendary spinner from Australia, Clarrie Grimmett, to perfect Hazare's wrist-spin and improve his batting. Grimmett advised him to concentrate on batting.

Although he made his Ranji Trophy debut in the year (1934-35) of its inception, represented India in the unofficial Test in Lahore against Lord Tennyson's side in 1937, played for Maharashtra against the MCC at Pune in 1933-34 and toured England with the Rajputana side in 1938, it was not until Hazare scored 316 in a first-class game in 1939-40 that he made a big impact.

Four seasons later, with the Rest against the Hindus, he bowled 52 overs, scored 59 out of 133 and, when his team followed on, made 309 out of a total of 387, adding 300 runs for the sixth wicket with his brother Vivek (21).

He was unsuccessful in the 1946 Test series in England, although he finished the tour with 1,344 runs at 49.77 and 56 wickets at 24.75. "Hazare is incapable of throwing away his wicket," wrote John Arlott. "The century-mark, the double century-mark, are only milestones in an unvarying pace of scoring. Few critics will become lyrical about his style, but that will not worry him: he is concerned with scores and is developing into a most capable machine for making them,"

The "machine" went into full swing back home. Hazare (288) and Gul Mahomed struck a world-record 577-run fourth wicket stand against Holkar in 1946-47. He made 429 runs at 47.66 in five Tests and 1,056 at 48.00 in all first-class matches in Australia in 1947-48. He aggregated 534 runs at 67.87 against West Indies at home in 1948-49. His 134 in the second Test rescued India; his 122 in the fifth nearly won the match. In two series against a starry Commonwealth Team, he collected 1,311 runs. When he was captain against England in 1951-52, his dogged 100s at Delhi and Bombay were followed by glory in Madras - India had her first ever Test win.

In England in 1952, his batting was the only redeeming feature for India in a series dominated by Fred Trueman and Alec Bedser. Five out of nine times he was faced with wickets going down like ninepins: 3 for 42, 4 for 0, 5 for 17, 2 for 7, 5 for 6. At the Oval, with India 5 for 6 and Trueman on a hat-trick, Hazare scored 38 of his team's total of 98. "It's the innings of my life," he said. In seven crucial innings, he scored 333 runs at 55.50. He ended the tour with 1,077 runs. He took 7 for 50 against Middlesex, including three wickets in four balls.

Stripped of the captaincy, he held his own against Pakistan in 1952-53, playing a masterly innings of 146 on a difficult wicket in Bombay. He was reinstated as captain for India's maiden tour of the West Indies in 1953. But neither his batting nor his captaincy inspired his team and he was discarded for good. He was too defensive and his risk-eliminating batting became so much a part of his mental make-up that it showed in his leadership.

"I wish Hazare had never captained India, " said Vijay Merchant. "He was always a disciplined soldier, never a commander. Captaincy affected his otherwise unflagging concentration and he was never the same batsman again. It was a tragedy of Indian cricket." Hazare led in 14 Tests, won 1, lost 5, drew 8.

He played 30 Tests, scored 2,192 runs at 47.65, and hit seven centuries. He opened India's bowling 12 times in tests, his curious round-arm action and tricks fetching 20 wickets. Bradman, dismissed only four times in the 1947-48 series, was bowled by Hazare for 13 at Sydney and for 201 at Adelaide. In all first-class cricket, Hazare made 18,740 runs at 58.38, including 60 centuries, took 595 wickets at 24.61, performed a hat-trick and held 165 catches. In the Lancashire League, he scored 1.075 runs at 71.66 and took 104 wickets at 9.82 for Rawtenstall in 1949; and 760 runs at 44.70 and 89 wickets at 10.02 for Rayton in 1950.

Princely patronage sustained him all his life. He played for Maharashtra before, and for Baroda after, the war. He was a tiger hunter and captain in the army of Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad of Baroda. He had an honorary life-membership of the MCC. He wrote My Story, Cricket Replayed and A Long Innings.

Personally, he shunned controversy and preferred privacy. His wife Ramila, whom he married in 1943, survives him, as do two daughters and a son.

· Vijay Samuel Hazare, cricketer, born March 11, 1915; died December 18, 2004